Auto back up Excel 2003/2002/2000/97 files

Backup Assistant in detail

The Backup Assistant is designed to help you make backup copies of your workbooks before you make changes to them. One of its most useful features is to prompt you to backup a file immediately after it is opened! Eliminate the worry about messing up a file and not having an up to date backup.

To use, just select File, Backup Assistant. To display the following dialog:

Backup Assistant for Excel - main menu.

The first two options allow you to either backup the active file or to backup a group of files. The name of the active file is shown on the first option button. If you select the option to backup a group of files, all of the files you have open are displayed in the selection list, including hidden files like Personal.xls.

The second group of options allows you to select the destination directory. To use the option of a default backup directory, you must first specify the directory by using the button "Set / Change Default Directory". If you use the option to select a directory, you can either select a directory via a directory list, or by a list of the past 30 directories you have selected via this option.

The checkbox immediately below the directory selection options allows you to have the backup files put in a subdirectory of the specified folder named "Backup YYYY MM DD" (example: Backup 2003 12 02) that is created if needed. This gives you the option to segregate your backups by day backed up.

The next set of options allows you to specify the file name. The first option saves the backup with the year, month, day, hour, and minute that the backup file was created. Other options allow you to specify a suffix or prefix, or the file name that will be used

The last two checkboxes give you the option to prevent a file being over written without your approval, and to save the current file before making the backup. The backup that is created is a copy of the workbook, with all edits that have been done to it, up to the point of backup. By saving the original file, you insure that it and the backup are identical.

As you can see, the Backup Assistant is completely menu driven. The menus are easy to follow and use. When you select options on the main dialog, they are bolded so that you can easily see which ones are selected. And, to help you learn how to use the features of the Backup Assistant, there is an exercise file to give you hands on practice. To open it, just select the Help/About button.

The Options button gives you the following choices

• Creation of a quick access button;
• Ability to turn-off the automatic prompt for backup when a workbook is opened;
• Ability to filter the files that one is prompted to backup on open. For example, all files opened from the Windows Temp directory can be excluded.